ESXi 8.0.3 host kernel panic (PSOD) during SESparse snapshot consolidation

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article describes a software defect in VMware ESXi 8.0.3 occurring during snapshot consolidation, which may result in a kernel panic (Purple Screen of Death / PSOD) and snapshot chain corruption.

• ESXi 8.0.3 host experiences an unexpected kernel panic.
• PSOD displays "#DE Exception 0 (Divide-by-zero error)".
• PSOD occurs within the SeConslHelpe (SESparse Offline Consolidation Helper) process.
• Virtual machine fails to boot or becomes unresponsive due to stale file locks and snapshot chain corruption.

 

In the vmware.log for VM testVM-01, we see the disk copy timeout

2026-07-27T20:53:36.992Z Wa(03) vmx - Mirror: scsi0:1: Failed to copy disk: Timeout
2026-07-27T20:53:36.992Z Wa(03) vmx - MirrorDiskCopyGetCopyProgress: Failed to get disk copy progress for source disk: '/vmfs/volumes/627e3d24-########-####-############/testVM-01/testVM-01_1-000006.vmdk' and destination disk: '/vmfs/volumes/627e3d24-########-####-############
/testVM-01/cud1-013591_1.vmdk'
2026-07-27T20:53:36.992Z In(05) vmx - ConsolidateDiskCopyCB: Mirror Disk copy failed on src disk: /vmfs/volumes/627e3d24-########-####-############/testVM-01/testVM-01_1-000006.vmdk and destination disk: /vmfs/volumes/627e3d24-########-####-############/testVM-01/testVM-01
_1.vmdk.

In the vmkernel.log we see the IO aborts which point to an underlying issue with the storage

2026-07-27T20:53:19.457Z In(182) vmkernel: cpu98:36345989)Fil3: 11037: Retry 10 for caller Fil6_FileIOInt (status 'IO was aborted by VMFS via a virt-reset on the device')

Environment

ESXi 9.x

ESXi 8.x

ESXi 7.x 

Cause

The issue occurs when the host attempts to coalesce I/O for a deeply nested SESparse snapshot chain, triggering an invalid memory address error in the consolidation helper.

Resolution

To recover the virtual machine and bypass the snapshot consolidation software defect, perform a manual command-line clone of the snapshot chain:

1. Power off the affected virtual machine.
2. Log in to the ESXi host via SSH.
3. Use the vmkfstools command to clone the topmost snapshot disk into a new base virtual disk: vmkfstools -i /vmfs/volumes/DatastoreName/VMFolder/vm-000006.vmdk /vmfs/volumes/DatastoreName/VMFolder/vm_recovered.vmdk
4. Edit the virtual machine settings in vCenter Server and remove the broken/locked snapshot disk (ensure "Delete files from datastore" is unchecked).
5. Attach the newly created vm_recovered.vmdk to the virtual machine.
6. Power on the virtual machine.
7. Verify data integrity and function.

Additional Information

For defects and enhancements, we recommend users subscribe to this article (Article 275360) to be updated on the fix status.